Niger Delta

Diri Assures Timely Completion Of Nembe-Brass Road

Published

4 years ago

July 1, 2022

Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has assured people of the state of his administration’s irrevocable commitment to complete Phase One of the Nembe-Brass Road project before the end of his first term in office.
Governor Diri, who gave the assurance on Wednesday at the 79th State Executive Council meeting in Government House, Yenagoa, said his administration was poised to prove naysayers wrong with the timely completion of the multi-million naira project.
Represented by his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, the Governor thanked Bayelsans, especially the chiefs and people of Nembe and Brass areas for turning up en masse to accord him and his entourage a rousing welcome at the flag-off ceremony last week.
He pointed out that the Nembe-Brass Road is very important not only to the people of the state but also the entire country because of the strategic national assets and resources domiciled in that part of the state.
Governor Diri remarked that when he said his administration would undertake construction of the Bayelsa East Senatorial Road project, many had thought it was just an empty political statement.
“We want to thank Bayelsans, particularly the people of Nembe and Brass, and of course the entire Bayelsa East Senatorial District, who turned up en masse to give the Governor and his entourage a rousing welcome.
“When we said we were going to undertake this project, people thought it was political. For the Prosperity Administration, we are committed to every talk we talk. We don’t make empty promises.
“It is better to begin with a step to go in the right direction than not to take a step at all. We are convinced that before the twilight of the first tenure of this administration, that project will be completed. That is our target.’
Governor Diri, who pointed out that the main wealth of the state was in the sea, said government was determined to open up the state to the Atlantic Ocean from three flanks, noting that substantial progress were being made on the ongoing Bayelsa West and Central Senatorial Roads.
He diclosed that asphalt had been laid up to Ayamasa, and in a few weeks’ time, Aleibiri in Ekeremor Local Government Area would be linked up to ensure smooth drive from Toru-Orua, where the present administration took up the project.
“As you are aware, our wealth is in the sea and our desire is to take us and ensure that we get to the Atlantic from the three flanks. We are making good progress on the Bayelsa West Road.
“As we speak, asphalt has been laid up to Ayamasa and beyond. In a couple of weeks, we should be able to link to Aleibiri and you will have smooth drive from Toru-Orua from where we resumed construction, up to Amanagbene where our asphalt is sitting and working hard to get to Ekeremor main town”, he said.
“We are very sure that with the resources that are coming our way, we should be able to take the next phase that would take us from Ekeremor to Agge”, he added.
The Bayelsa Chief Executive used the opportunity to commend and encourage the state male and female Basketball teams participating in this year’s Nestle Millo National Basketball tournament for secondary schools holding in Lagos.
He expressed delight that both Saint Jude’s Girls Secondary School and the Bishop Dimeari Grammar School (BDGS) teams have qualified for the finals and would definitely make the state proud again by coming up tops in their different categories.
Speaking on the protracted power outage in the state, Governor Diri said it was not the fault of the State Government, clarifying that the generation, distribution and transmission of electricity in Nigeria through the national grid was on the Exclusive List.
While empathizing with the people over the worrisome development, he appealed to them to show understanding and not to point accusing fingers at the state government, adding that his administration was closely with relevant Federal agencies to solve the problem.
Senator Diri also used the opportunity to remind the youths of Bayelsa to direct their energies to productive ventures, by investing their time in activities that would not link them to crime and criminality.
He advised them to take full advantage of the various opportunities that government has created for them, disclosing that no fewer than 150 youths were currently being trained in the second batch of beneficiaries of the Diri Digital Entrepreneurship Empowerment Programme (D-DEEP).

By: Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa

Niger Delta

MNCH Week Begins Today … As Consultant Urges Parents To Vaccinate Children, Others

Published

2 days ago

June 8, 2026

The Tide

The second phase of the Optimised Maternal Newborn Child Health Week (oMNCHW) is billed to hold from today to Thursday, July 12, 2026.

In an interview with the Behavioural Change Consultant for the Rivers State Primary Healthcare Management Board, Sandra James, she disclosed that although the programme is tagged Maternal Newborn Child Health (MNCH) Week, it is not for only children.

“We are looking at everybody. That we tagged it MNCH does not make it strictly for mother and child. It’s a one-stop-shop, as we usually call it, for mother, children, adolescents, and fathers.

“Everybody can work into a Primary Healthcare facility, because it’s going to be a major facility-based activities: you just work in for your deworming exercise for your children under five; for your sexual gender-based violence services for girls and boys that are sexually assaulted; for Family Planning (FP) for both adolescent and everybody of reproductive age; for free delivery during the week; and for nutrition in which you check the children who are malnourished and you ensure that their nutritional status are improved through counselling, through dispensing of nutritional therapeutic ready-to-eat meal”, she said.

She continued that it also include malaria treatment, and HIV treatment counselling to prevent maternal child transmission. All of these will be available during the one week period of he programme.

She said, “any person that works into our health centres within the period in the 23 local government areas will access the services.

“The Executive Secretary, Dr. Chituru Adiele, has ensured that all the 23 LGAs have their health facilities up and running to ensure that there is, and will be, a successful maternal health week.”

She adviced parents to access the facilities within the period, saying the services “are not mainly there for mother’s to go and deliver their babies, they are not mainly for immunisation services, they’re not there for antinatal care, they’re not for post-natal services. It’s for everybody.

“That’s your first place of call to ensure that you’re healthy. Per adventure, you go to these health facilities, and anything is beyond them, they have been trained to know when to refer.

“So, please, minimise self-medication, herbal medication, and ensure that you utilise the services of these primary healthcare centres in our communities.”

Speaking on areas currently experiencing diphtheria in Rivers State, the State Immunization Officer, Dr. Joseph Urang, said the focus is on Oyigbo and Agbandele, both in Oyigbo and Obio/Akpor Local Government Areas, respectively.

According him, so far, one case in Oyigbo, and two cases (twins) in Agbandele of clinically diagnosed diphtheria have been identified, with one of them already dead, due to the fact that the twins, who are four years old, are both zero dose, while the single case in Oyigbo (15 years) has however been vaccinated in childhood.

Dr. Urang explained that when the team of health officers moved into both areas, the parents resisted their children being immunised, and only succumbed after much persistence and persuasion by the health team.

Explaining the diphtheria vaccine, he said it is part of he pental vaccines: “what happens is that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that at between 3 and 5, the effect actually weans out. That’s why they recommend that when you give your child the vaccine, you have a booster dose at 5, 10, and 15 years.

He said after the booster dose at 15 years, the person will have protection for life.

Diphtheria, he explained, “is a bacteria, and it has strong affinity to the respiratory system. It’s an infection in the respiratory system. It’s all around us, in the air we breadth.

“That’s why it requires continuous vaccination, because once you stop vaccination, it comes back to infect our system. The way we, as humans, are struggling to survive, that’s how these organisms are struggling to survive.”

He urged everybody to avail themselves the opportunity of accessing the available services in health centres close to them.

By: Sogbeba Dokubo

Niger Delta

Eno Promises To Actualise Ibom Deep Seaport Project

Published

2 days ago

June 8, 2026

The Tide

Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno, has reiterated his administration’s commitment towards actualising the Ibom Deep Seaport project

This is contained in a statement by the Information Commissioner, Dr. Aniekan Umanah, in Uyo on Saturday.

The statement disclosed that Eno made the expression at a high-level technical engagement and working session with Africa Global Logistics Group in Paris, France.

According to the statement, the session reviewed the recently submitted technical feasibility report prepared by Worley Parsons.

It also examined the critical pathways for investment, project implementation, and long-term sustainability.

During the engagement, Eno emphasised the need to accelerate project delivery, and called for clear timelines, milestones, and actionable steps for project implementation.

He said the state government was committed to working effectively with other partners to achieve the deep seaport initiative.

He described the project as a landmark blue economy initiative with the potential to position Akwa Ibom as a leading maritime, trade, and logistics hub in the Gulf of Guinea.

Niger Delta

Group Bothers Over Oil Pollution-Related Health Hazards In Bayelsa

Published

2 days ago

June 8, 2026

The Tide

The International Working Group (IWG), a non-governmental organisation on Petroleum Pollution and Just Transition in the Niger Delta, has described as highly traumatizing the impact of oil pollution on the environment and health of the people of Bayelsa State.

The NGO, which is currently carrying out a sensitisation campaign on health hazards associated with oil pollution in the state, disclosed this during a courtesy visit to the State Governor, Douye Diri, in Government House, Yenagoa.

Speaking through its team lead, Professor Engobo Emeseh, the group expressed concern that average life expectancy in the state has reduced significantly, saying that the citizens and others living in the State are forced to live on contaminated land, air and water.

Professor Engobo, who is of the Law Faculty of Aberyswhyth University, UK, clarified that the IWG was focusing advocacy on the health of the people in line with the recommendations of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission Report, which was submitted in 2023.

She disclosed that laboratory analysis of blood samples taken from indigenes from across the eight LGAs in the State indicated very high levels of hydrocarbon pollution and carcinogenic metals, causing a sharp increase in mortality and morbid rates in the state.

The academics, who commended the State Government for being the first subnational government in Nigeria to set up a high-powered Commission on oil and environment, said the Group would continue to partner the state and other relevant organizations to mitigate the negative impact of oil pollution on the health of the people.

“Most of us here were constituted as members of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environment Commission. We gave our report in 2023; first presented at the House of Lords, and also presented to the Bayelsa State Government here in Creek Haven in October 2024, and then presented to the wider public in Abuja.

“In all of this, the Bayelsa State Government had given us the space and the support to provide our expertise and advice on how to deal with the challenge of the scourge of oil pollution in our state.

“My colleagues and I, who were members of the expert working group, were quite traumatized at what we found in Bayelsa State, and we called our report an environmental genocide.

“Based on that, we committed that even though our commission was de-commissioned in November 2024, we were going to carry on with this work”, she added.

In his response, Diri, represented by his Deputy, Dr. Peter Akpe, described the report of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environment Commission as one of the most important documents to guide concerted actions in the mitigation of environmental hazards from oil pollution in the state.

He thanked members of the International Working Group for partnering the State Government by making their expertise available to ongoing efforts towards mitigating the impact of oil pollution on the health of Bayelsans.

While calling on the Federal Government and international organizations to treat the issue of oil pollution in Bayelsa as a special case, he assured the IWG of his administration’s support towards environmental remediation and improved healthcare delivery in the state.

“Your visit is very significant. It is to buttress and consolidate the partnership that began with the Bayelsa Oil and Environment Commission. We are happy that the relationship is matured to this kind of sustained international platform of advocacy.

“We recall the presentation His Excellency, the Governor made, in New York. We travelled from Bayelsa to New York because of the importance we attached to the Commission and all your activities.

“The Commission’s report remains one of our important documents, especially concerning environmental condition of our state and the wider Niger Delta. For us, it is not a closed chapter, it is a living document whose recommendations must continue to guide concrete actions.

“We can’t thank you enough for what you are doing already. We welcome your planned health research, interactions and engagements in the state. And we assure you that we are totally in support and we equally expect to see positive results from your work”, the Governor said.

Members of the six-man IWG delegation include Dr. Kathryn Nwajiaku-Dahou, representing ODI Global UK; Prof. Michael Watts of University of California; and Dr. Isaac Osuoka of York University, Canada.

Others are Prof. Anna Zalik, also from the York University, Canada, and Dr. Cautlin Strong of the ODI Global, United Kingdom.

By: Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa